There are a wide variety of dispensing closures which are provided with a dispensing orifice in a closure body to which a lid or cover is hinged for pivoting movement between an open position spaced away from the dispensing orifice and a closed position occluding the dispensing orifice. Many such conventional closures are unitary structures in which the closure cover is joined to the closure body with a hinge, and such structures are typically molded from thermoplastic materials in one piece. Such one-piece closures may be provided with a snap-action hinge or other means for biasing the cover to an open position on one side of an over center point and to a closed position on the other side of the over center point. U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,898 discloses examples of such one-piece closures.
Another type of conventional closure is fabricated from two pieces, a cover piece and a body piece. Two-piece closures offer the advantages of less complex molds and molding procedures, disassembly capability for ease of cleaning, and the capability for molding the body and cover in different colors. U.S. Pat. No. 4,666,068 discloses a two-piece closure.
It would be desirable to provide an improved two-piece closure wherein the cover has a self-maintained open position and a latched closed position. This would facilitate use of the closure.
Further, it would be desirable if such an improved two-piece closure had the capability for being arranged to provide a biasing force on the cover when the cover is in the latched in the closed position. Then, when the cover is opened, the biasing force would assist in the opening process.
It would also be beneficial if an improved two-piece closure could be provided with the capability for accommodating a plurality of open positions to afford greater or lesser access to the dispensing orifice region as may be desired.